Virtual ‘thank you’ on Zoom at one Montgomery County high school, goes viral
POTOMAC, Md. - Virtual classes have been hard for both students and teachers within the last year and a half, some who haven't even been able to meet each other in person yet.
So to show their true gratitude, students at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland created the perfect way to say and show their thanks to one of their teachers.
"Oh I’m gona cry," Wendy Franklin, an AP and Honors Biology teacher at the high school is heard saying during one of her Zoom class.
Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and Weather
And it’s probably hard not to shed a tear or two, when you watch Franklin’s students, about 48 of them, turn on their Zoom cameras one by one, while holding signs that read ‘Thank you.’
Ms. Franklin as her students like to call her, said that at first, she had no idea why her students weren’t turning on their cameras.
But then one of her students speaks up saying, "Ms. Franklin we wanted to thank you in this virtual setting."
The virtual thank you with the song ‘Halo’ by singer Beyoncé, playing in the background, was a surprise on the last day of class and it’s one Franklin said she will never forget.
"My kids inspire me every day," said Franklin, as she spoke with FOX 5’s, Ayesha Khan on Wednesday.
"They are amazing and the fact that they came together to do this, doesn’t shock me but what it meant to me and I cannot ever express how grateful I am."
Their coordinated effort of paying their gratitude during what has been a tough yet challenging year and a half for many students across the country, is something Franklin said she is so proud of.
"I cannot ever express how grateful I am this is in the back corner of my files to save when I’m having that day where I feel like I’m failing my students because that’s how I felt at the beginning of the school year."
The video even went viral after it was posted to TikTok. Some of Franklin’s students told Fox 5 that they couldn’t have gotten through the virtual learning without her.
"It was our way of thanking her for always being there for us," said Amanda Kossoff.
"She always put us before any of her other necessary things," said Elisa Zoltick.
"She always does everything in her power to make sure that we are doing the best we can," said Julieta Magud.
Franklin said that although she has a drawer full of individual thank you notes, never in her life has she ever been surprised quite this way.